“Stylin’ out.” That’s how Monica L. Miller, an associate professor of English at Barnard College, describes the way black people have used dress to expand definitions of blackness, gender, and sexuality. Men in particular have “styled their way from slaves to dignified human beings,” she writes in Slaves to Fashion (Duke University Press, 2009).

The first book-length study of black dandyism, Miller’s work is part of a growing scholarly interest in how clothes fashion our lives. It also signals the blossoming of black dandyism—fedoras, silk ascots, flashy socks—on the streets of major cities. Jay-Z, Kanye West, and Outkast’s Andre 3000 have made it cool to rap in Polo shirts, bow ties, nerd glasses, and boat shoes. The NBA’s LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Kevin Durant pull off dandyish without being pretentious.

And now black dandyism is trending in the halls of academe. Scroll down to meet three academic dandies.

Hasan Kwame Jeffries Associate professor of history, Ohio State UniversityPhotographs by David Bernstein for The Chronicle

“My base clothes are simple and standard. My shirts are usually white or blue with a French cuff, medium starch please.”

“A black dandy ... conveys a professional swagger in the face of racial stereotypes about place and profession.”

“Students and colleagues have been wonderfully complimentary about my dress. I was even reprimanded by a class for failing to wear [braces] one time. The students said that I messed up the class mojo.”